RIDE Motorcycles has posted Episode 1 of The Year of Jubilee to its YouTube channel. We posted the trailer yesterday, and we have embedded the full Episode 1 below.
Do you think this video series can inspire riders the way On Any Sunday did in the 1970’s? Weigh in with your thoughts in the Comments section below and enjoy the video.
If you were a motorcycle rider in 1971 when OAS was released, it is an easy answer. There will never be another OAS. It was a one of a kind production that will NEVER be duplicated. Kind of like the second moon landing. It is best to not even try to compare this latest film to OAS. I watched Episode 1 and it is well done and has great footage of MX racing which I love more than any other sport. Dirt bike riding and racing is strong with large turnouts, especially in the Southeast. Even Flat Track is coming back. Dual Sport and ADV Touring are also growing. Thanks to KTM, Husky, and GAS GAS for putting their heart and soul into dirt bike racing and producing this video. Every motorcycle I own (including street riding) has a 21″ front tire. There are so many ways to enjoy riding the dirt. Get out and ride!
Yeah, um…..NOT like On Any Sunday at all. OAS celebrated ALL kinds of motorcycling, not just privileged kids staging $100,000-per-year efforts to win Loretta’s. This glorifies part of what has ruined motorcycling for so many.
“Do you think this video series can inspire riders the way On Any Sunday did in the 1970’s?”
Zero chance of that. Literally…zero.
— No one will see this video. It’s not trending on TikTok or Amazon Prime.
— It requires physical effort that doesn’t involve skintight lycra, horrific House music, stupid cat-ears snapchat filters, twerking, a bank of mirrors, or a webcam.
— It involves dirt (actual dirt; not the metaphorical variety), sweat, physical discomfort, and messed-up hair.
— The clothes are not hot.
— It’s difficult AF to shoot selfies and videos while falling over at the first berm.
— There are actual winners and losers.
— It can’t be done on an iPhone, so why would anyone bother?
That and the four stroke garbage that they sell on TV costs a lot more to buy and maintain. Lots of people have been priced out of racing just because they are too stupid to buy a two stroke.
I don’t have that many more hot laps around the sun to enjoy before I bail off planet earth. I really don’t mind not having to share the woods with legions of booger machines while I wait.
More than half of the people I see in the local woods while I’m mountain biking are in their fifties or older. Be they out there walking or riding. I almost never see anyone under thirty out there.
What I do see that is encouraging are lots of noobs. That so many people can get past their thirtieth birthday with such poor riding skills is sad. But they are out there, and they will improve. Good on ’em.
Thank you for the reminder about “On any Sunday”. Have just found it on YouTube and am enjoying it all over again but this time with my wife
When I was a kid growing up in eastern PA, we had what was probably thousands of acres to ride. My family had 140 acres and state land behind us. The two houses across the street (who also had kids who also rode and were the same age us my family) had over 100 acres between them…and their property backed up to a power line that had a trail system that we could ride for the entire day. We had trails and tracks everywhere.
Sadly, those environments don’t exist anymore. A motorcycle ecosystem doesn’t exist without mom and dad loading up the bikes and driving to a legal trail or track. If you want your kids to ride…and want to ride with them or be part of what they are doing…you’re probably going to be racing.
I put aside 3 acres on my own property so my kids (and myself) had a track to ride during the week – but we were land locked with no place to ride out to. A few times a year we’d have a big cookout day where all of our friends brought their family and we’d try to ride all day. I say try because there are always neighbors who hate seeing people have fun.
We had it lucky as kids. Kids today…they know it sucks. My point is, if you are going to make a movie about kids riding, it’s either going to be shot at some sanctioned event or for-pay trail…or it’s gonna be shot showing kids riding somewhere they shouldn’t. Modern society has redefined childhood, and its for the worse.
Location location location.
I lived in Europe for five years. Four years ago I moved bace to the United States. I was eager to get back to America where it was easy to go dirt biking.
Well, I got the old bait and switch. I moved to New Hampshire. The riding here is either top secret, questionably legal, or both, unless you like to ride motocross. You have to have a plated bike to ride the enduros, what!? I joined two motorcycle clubs. But the meetings are so much about kissing up to ATV clubs to ride ATV trail. I don’t throw a leg over my bike to ride ATV trails. The meetings are cringe worthy.
I didn’t move back to America, I moved back to the United States. America lies west of the Mississippi. I make regular pilgrimages to Minnesota to go dirt biking. The only riding I did here in 2020 was ice racing a little on the lake that I live on. I spent several weeks in Minnesota riding Akeley, Huntersville and Nemadji. There are maps of those places on line and there is even a phone app that has maps and tracking via GPS. Hundreds of miles of motorcycle only trail.
Some of my Minnesota social dirt biking buddies are out in Colorado and Utah right now riding some of the zillion miles of trail out there. America is still America west of the Mississippi. There are states out there that still have a sense of humor. Sadly, I find the east to be sort of a Europe light. Population density has taken its toll. I have been sentanced to live here until my wife’s folks croak. I refer to it as living in exile.
I’ll be riding in Minnesota the last two weeks of May. I visit America regularly.
Some of this is true. Some of it is not quite true. There are still active enclaves of excellent private riding in the east. When that is gone and population density overwhelms those private areas, I will move to where freedom reigns. And until then we have more suffering to endure. Stand it like a man, and give some back.
“Do you think this video series can inspire riders the way On Any Sunday did in the 1970’s?”
Seriously…? No way.
Where is the fun? How about showing something with Megs Braap – passion at it’s best.
Agree with Mikey – this is about racing, high level competition, pushing, effort. OAS was more about the joy of riding. Don’t see much joy in this segment – just struggle, sacrifice and willpower. NOT a fan so far.
I haven’t watched the video yet, but for kids to stay involved with something, it needs to be fun. When mine were little, I pushed/pulled them into racing (go-karts & rc cars), but they just wanted to have fun, not make a lifetime commitment. Lots of hours and dollars later, I realized that I didn’t want racing to consume my life.
My experience with motorcycles was similar. The kids went along, but it was my passion, not theirs. To get and keep people in the sport, we need to keep it light, keep it fun, and give them the opportunity. With some, it will stick.
OAS emphasized family fun with a side dose of racing.
That video emphasized racing with helicopter parents pushing their kids to be pro racers and the parents had to have total commitment and sacrifice for that one kid, both in time and money including motorhomes and a lot of travelling.
If they think THAT is what is going to begin a new boom in motorcycling, I think they are way, way off base.
Bring back the idea of family fun and maybe the parents/kids will be interested.
+1
They focused on the kids that won and still there were plenty of tears. Can you imagine what it looked like in the pits with the kids (and parents) that didn’t win?
I got a couple pics from Kamioops, 1976. The starting line was packed. A few years later, it fell off a cliff. The recession of 82 was a factor. That was a new word back then. The economy changed. A lot of the low skill/high paying jobs were gone. But, really motocross is too much hobby for most guys. It demands high fitness, it is as punishing as martial arts. And, there are all the technical demands, suspension setup, engine maintenance etc.